Invincible Volume 1: Origins
by Baron Zemo
Summary: Chapter 3: Zuko, the Invincible, finally teamed up with his dad, Omni-Man; their first mission is an alien invasion... but that's not the only problem... Yueko or Zue ; Zujin or Jinko
1. Chapter 1: 'Bout Time

_**Invincible.**_

_**Volume 1: Origins, Secrets and Lies.**_

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Robert Kirkman's, Cory Walker's and Ryan Ottley's Invincible, one of the few non-Marvel and non-DC comic book series that I love. Also, I do not own Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko's **Avatar: the Last AirBender**… No infringement is intended.

_Characters:_

Prince Zuko: Mark Grayson/ Invincible.

Aang: Allen the Alien.

General Iroh: Nolan Grayson/ Omni-Man.

Ursa: Debbie Grayson.

Princess Yue: Samantha Eve Wilkins/ Atom Eve.

Jin: Amber Justine Bennett.

Shoji: William Francis Clockwell.

Pakku: Cecil Stedman.

Piandao: Art Rosenbaum

Katara: Dupli-Kate.

And so on and so forth…

**Not-so-distant-future…**

'Have you ever had your ass whooped? Really, really kicked in the knickers? I mean… (How do you explain this in words?) … I mean one of those old-fashioned sorts of smackdowns where your fucking opponent just lashed all his angers out on you… don't bother to stop hitting you, just because you're laying on the ground.'  
'Have you been clobbered in the face so hard… so HARD that your eyes went shut… making you temporarily blind? Ever accidentally swallowed your own teeth? Ever tried to catch your breath with just one working lung while all your body screamed in agony although you have lied down to rest?' 'Have you…?'

'If the answer is yes… then maybe we're on the same page here.'  
When I suddenly realised that I was talking to myself, more like saying my mind out loud/ monologuing… while I lay down there staring up at the sky… watching the now-microscopic-size Dad… a fearful thought occurred in my (broken) head… have I gone crazy after all those brutal beatings? Then after I pondered about it, I sighed again…; no crazy persons will think themselves crazy… or so what I've been taught. I didn't know how long I had been laying there before I lost consciousness, before peaceful death took me away… but all I could remember before I blacked out was… well… my life; I was having a life review due to a near-death experience… a flash before my very eyes…

'Nice, just nice… I had to experience my pain again…' And then…

**Now…**

"Hey! Zuko, wait up!" It was the end of the school day; I was walking home when my 'best friend' was calling me from behind. I turned around, smiled and greeted him warmly. "Oh, hey Shoji. What's up?" While what I was REALLY asking him in my mind was: _Can you please leave me alone? Not all of us love to hang out and have an orgy… _  
"A few of us are gonna go hang out tonight. You wanna tag along?"  
My immediate reaction was too made up an excuse, but then I realised that I had something… "Sorry, man, I've got to be at Burger Mart in about twenty minutes, so…"  
"Oh, yeah!" Shoji groaned, slapping his forehead. "Forgot about you having a job… sucks to be you."  
"Gee, thanks." I snorted. "Well, see ya." "See ya!"

Who am I?  
You sure you wanna know?  
The story of my life… is meant for everyone… whether they're having a faint of heart or whatever… (Well, at least until I got… whoops! Can't spoil ya!)  
If somebody said that this story was a happy tale… if somebody said that this story was just another superhero stuff where the protagonist was the son of a superhero trying to live up his daddy/ mummy's good name… somebody lied.  
My name is Zuko; I am a nobody.  
At least, that's what I thought… until that fateful day… at the Burger Mart.

"Grayson! Throw the garbage!" Dan, one of the senior workers barked; _I hate subordination… what is this?! Army?!_ "Right away…!" I replied nonetheless. "…Sir." I added quickly.  
I took the big pile of junks full of junk foods and other wastes and went outside through the exit door; I took my time to the dust bin, pulling the garbage while singing Green Day song titled Basket Case out loud. (One of my odd habit.)

'_Sometimes I give myself the creeps_

_Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me'_

I opened the huge, green dust bin, lifted the light, (waitaminnit, light?) big garbage and threw it to the bin… but I put too much strength on it; I didn't notice… my mind was somewhere else… I was thinking of this cute girl Jin Justine… and still singing…

'_It all keeps adding up, I think I'm cracking up_

_Am I just paranoid? Am I just stoned?'_

Then, when I didn't hear the loud noise 'THUD!' from the bin, I stopped singing, looked up bewilderingly and stopped breathing for… I dunno… as long as I saw the thing that would change my life…  
The garbage that I threw was flying… literally shooting high to the sky until it was nowhere to be seen… My whole body went numb… my eyes wide open, my jaws slack… eventually gasping for breath, I grinned and answered the question of the song.

"I am just stoned."

'Bout fucking time!

…

"Let's go ahead and start." My mum, Ursula 'Ursa' Grayson, said after she prepared the dinner in the dining room; I'd sit down, unusually quiet, obviously still stoked about the discovery. "It doesn't look like he's going to be home anytime soon so…" Mum continued.  
"I had a pretty interesting day," I began, when suddenly… "WHOOSH!" a gush of wind blew past through me and my Dad, Iroh Grayson… otherwise publicly known as Omni-Man, already sat on his chair. Unlike the Iroh you know in the series, this Iroh is more… (How do I put this?) Well-built…; he sports a notable large moustache and has a short, black hair with white temple.  
"Sorry, I'm late. There was a flood in Egypt," Dad explained casually.  
"Egypt?" Mum said, raising her eyebrow  
"It was enchanted; once I've taken care of who was controlling it, (a mummy, by the way; funny story… we'll talk more about that in another story) it was quickly died away."  
Then, the three of us were having a 'normal' dinner without a 'special' conversation… my Mum and Dad were chatting about something… possibly gossiping about their neighbours or stuffs… we folks didn't really care about world crisis or economy problem because when your husband/ father is Omni-Man, the greatest super-hero of the Earth, your life is surely luxurious (although my Mum insisted that we live in suburb house).

Then, the revelation had come when Mum asked the question, "So, how was your day, Zuzu?"

"Fine, fine…" I hated it when she called me that… "By the way, I think I'm finally getting my superpowers!"

"That's great." Mum smiled. "Can you pass me the bacon, sweetie?"  
_Ooookay… not the kind of reaction I'm expecting._

…

That night… I went up to the roof; I couldn't sleep. I mean, when you think you have inherited superpowers like super-strength, speed, invulnerability and flight, you would get FRICKING ecstatic for the next 24-7 straight, wouldn't you? So, that night, I stood at the edge of the roof… trying to prove… trying to find a closure… whether I REALLY gain my superpowers. "So, this afternoon I think I finally have my super-strength… so NOW I'm gonna find out whether I can fly," I took a deep breath. "Okay, okay, okay. Iroh says it's a reflex; so if I can fly… it should just happen when I jump off." I looked down and suddenly having a second thought… but I chastised myself that I wouldn't get killed from this height even though I'm still a fragile normal person… (Only it will SO gonna hurt) "… As long as I have Iroh's invulnerability, this shouldn't even hurt when I hit the ground…; but if I can't fly yet… then it's possible that I'm not invulnerable yet…" I winced, thinking of the horrible consequences… but ultimately my courage (Or is it stupidity?) overwhelmed my cowardice and I jumped. "GREEN DAY ROCKS!" (Geronimo is so outdated.)

I tried to spread my legs and hands, but my body kept falling and falling; so I reflexively closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and covered my face with my fore-arms. I was expecting of a huge noise of 'THUD!' due to the impact and then excruciating pain and then shrieking and then wailing and then moaning and then…  
But it was nothing; I was still in my (petrified and horrified) position… as if the time itself stopped. Then I slowly uncovered my face and opened my eyes… The green grass of the ground was literally in front of me… while I could feel my feet were touching nothing but thin air! I was floating! That means…  
"I can fly…" I whispered in a trembled voice, overwhelmed with a strong mix of feelings words could not describe. Then I shouted at the top of my lungs. "I CAN FLY! I CAN FLY!"

As soon as I shouted that, my body seemed to move forward, causing my face to hit ground… hard. 'THUD!' I was expecting my nose to bleed, but I barely felt the pain… does that mean I gained invulnerability too? I landed on the ground safely and then eagerly trying to fly again… only this time doing it by jumping high. "YES!" I could leap as high as Incredible Hulk! And then, when I reached the apogee of the jump, I closed my eyes, winced, and _voila!_ I floated! I tried to practise how to fly from here… how to move forward, how to turn and how to stop… It was fun! This was the only practice that I totally dig! I didn't realise that I've been doing this until the next morning…

"How does it feel like, Hotshot?" Dad was leaning on a tree; a huge grin was on his face.

"Hey, Iroh!" I landed right in front of him hardly… causing the floor to crack… "Man, gotta work on the landing…; Anyhoo, it feels… I dunno… it feels I've been REBORN! And that's just an understatement! Is flying always this fun?"  
"Well, you won't say that when you get used to it. But I know EXACTLY what you're saying; I felt the same thing when my two feet were not on its ground for hours for the first time… now that you have obviously gained all my powers, you'll need a uniform." (Iroh prefers to name costume uniform.)

"After we have our breakfast, I'll introduce you to a tailor... a friend of mine."

…

Later, Dad and I were going to Tailor Shoppe, where I was introduced to a man in 40s or 50s: Art Piandao. He was physically fit and well-built, looking just like Dad, albeit he had no superhuman abilities.

"Prom dresses by day, nuclear powered suits of armor by night…" Art's voice was deep like Laurence Fishburne. "… with your standard spandex number thrown in every now and then for measure… Damn, I've had this secret workshop here till I'm dead!" The two adults softly chuckled; "Well, Son? How does it feel?"  
I stood there in front of the two pops like a sore thumb. My costume… well… sucked. I mean, okay, it didn't suck that much; the golden-orange colour mixture was okay and the mask… the yellow ray-ban was quite cool. But…  
"I **don't** make this look good. It's not the tune I'm looking for, besides… what's with all these weird disc things?"

"They're solar batteries; I designed that uniform back when I was under the impression that you and your Dad's powers were solar-power based." Art explained.  
"Common mistake, Artie. Don't worry about it." Dad said. Then, a beeping noise came from Dad's cell-phone. When Dad answered it, he cursed. "Blast it! A behemoth, with a size of a mountain! It is tearing up the East Side Bridge! Zuko. Piandao. If you'll excuse me…" With a flash, he changed his normal attire to his Omni-Man costume. His costume's design is a combination of Captain America's and Superman's; it has a big O on the chest, a USA-flag-like them throughout the whole body, thus the blending colour of red, white and blue. "Use the north exit…" Piandao told Dad… but apparently he didn't listen, as he had conveniently zoomed 'to the rescue'. "Sorry about that." I apologised on Dad's behalf, though I couldn't manage to hold my chuckle. "You'll get used to that."

"Don't be. I've been with him for years, remember? So, I've gotten used to it too. So, what do you think of the design of the costume? Be honest. Criticism is what I need."  
"Well… Uh… It just doesn't seem_… iconic_, do you know what I mean?" I said hesitantly.  
"Ah… yes. I hear that all the time; everyone wants iconic costumes but nobody truly knows what that means. Iconic is a little tricky to do… but I can't make an iconic costume if I don't even know your name." "Pardon?"  
"Your _super _name, I mean." Art laughed at my confused eyes.

"Oh… OH! Right, sorry… Forgotten all about it. Honestly, I don't know… with all those names around, I couldn't find any good, memorable, _iconic_ name for me and _especially_ one that_ hasn't_ been used…"

"Well, see if you can come up with at least a few good ones before you come back here. Then we'll see if I can't whip up something more iconic based on the name."

…

Next week, first day of the school: Monday Blues. Bad start of the day as my mind couldn't focus classes but instead fighting crimes and making up super-names. But what really made it a bad start of the week was that sonofabitch (Hide), who I didn't even remember his name. He was doing somebody wedgies. I was ticked off because 1) The victim was the kid who had the locker next to me and 2) the bastard was trying to do me as well. Angrily I shoved him to my locker; but the result was worse (better) than I'd expected. My locker door was smashed (bad news) and the jerk's head had a swelling lump now (good news). This, of course, made a teacher to gives me detention and to see the principal. Good news: the Principal was a good friend of mine (unlike the Headmaster who appeared in the Headband.) "Just tell me what happened, Mr Grayson."  
"He was picking on Lee… the kid who has the locker next to me, sir. I asked him to leave him alone, but then he started to pick on me. So I retaliated in self-defense (This was a half-lie). I didn't mean to hurt him, sir, honest (This was a pure, undiluted lie.) I just hate it just to watch kids getting bullied."  
The principal sighed, but he understood. "To be quite honest… I condone it; but you should have gotten a teacher, or one of the security guards. That boy was almost twice your size. It's not your responsibility to protect the other kids here, Mr Grayson. You are not **invincible**, you know."  
That last sentence was the only sentence that struck me profoundly… of course, the Principle still got something more to say, and all I gotta reply is 'Yes, sir." But that line he uttered: You are **not** invincible." He just did me a favour: He had driven me to be otherwise.

…

It was a bank robbery in the middle of daylight. Probably a regular basis for these John Dillinger-like gangsters… but for me? This was heart-pumping! This is my debut… to save the day!  
I saw them running towards their large car in the corner of the streets from the sky.  
"C'mon, Lee, start the engine, we gotta hit the road before…"  
But the robber couldn't finish his order, because he saw his car being lifted by me, who's wearing a new costume, with an I insignia and a red and blue colour (resembling that Optimus Prime in the Transformers movie.)

"Too late, homeys."

"Drop it!" One of the robbers pointed his gun at me.  
"I wouldn't try that." I threw the car to the sky and dropped right behind them, now they had no way out.  
"_I'm Invincible._"

To Be Continued.


	2. Chapter 2: Friday Knight

_**Author's Note: There has been a change in a character and additional characters have been introduced…**_

**Characters:**

**10) Mai: Dupli-Kate/ Kate Cha.**

**11) Sokka: Rex Splode/ Rex Sloan.**

**12) ???: Robot.**

**13) Firelord Ozai: Conquest.**

**14) The Boulder: Mauler.**

**(More characters will be introduced in the upcoming chapters.)**

'_Duh-dum, deh-dum, dum-dum, deh-dum, dum-dum, deh-dum, duh-deh-duh-duh-d'dum… (2x)_

_Sit around and watch the tube, but nothing's on_

_Change the channels for an hour or two_

_Twiddle my thumbs just for a bit_

_I'm sick of all the same old shit_

_In a house with unlocked doors_

_And I'm fucking lazy'_

'_Bite my lip and close my eyes_

_Take me away to paradise_

_I'm so damn bored I'm going blind!_

_And I smell like shit'_

Sigh… GOD! How many songs had I sung? It's gotta be midnight now… as I stared at my ceiling, lying down on my bed… Mum was definitely sleeping by now; she's never been a night owl. Dad, well… Dad is Dad; he was now halfway around the world fighting some big bad mojo… Man, just keep on singing, Zuko… until you got sleepy… better than shut up; silent made you insane… especially after you watched 'Paranormal Activity'…

'_Peel me off this Velcro seat and get me moving_

_I sure as hell can't do it by myself_

_I'm feeling like a dog in heat_

_Barred indoors from the summer street_

_I locked the door to my own cell_

_And I lost the key'_

'_Bite my lip and close my eyes_

_Take me away to paradise_

_I'm so damn bored I'm going blind!_

_And I smell like shit'_

'_I got no motivation_

_Where is my motivation_

_No time for motivation_

_Smoking my inspiration'_

This was useless… I didn't feel either drowsiness or fatigue; I gotta ask Dad whether my newfound power made me awake 24-7… _Well, shouldn't complain, Zuko… better make the most of it… after all, this is Friday… _**(Author's Note: This Chapter happened 4 days after the previous Chapter) **Well… That made me remember of that Click Five song 'Friday Night'…

So, I opened my window and I flew towards the moonless, starry sky and started singing aloud…

'_Wearing night clothes never felt so cold__  
__Wish we were a little older__  
__Restless souls__  
__I cant hold this ladder for too long__  
__Wont you open up your window__  
__Come outside on'___

'_Friday night__  
__Baby are you sleeping__  
__Friday night__  
__My heart is still beating__  
__Its all right__  
__Curfew's gonna break my heart,__  
__So come and meet me in the dark__  
__Friday night__  
__You're under the covers__  
__Friday night__  
__We could be lovers__  
__Its all right__  
__Open up your sleepy eyes__  
__Come alive, come alive on Friday night'___

'_Baby it's no surprise__  
__The price is right__  
__I'm Bob Barker__  
__Hold on to the prize__  
__Cuz its Friday night, Friday night come alive'__  
_

"HEY! WHOEVER YOU ARE! STOP SINGING! YOU SUCK!" one fatso opened up his window from his apartment, shouting at me angrily  
"I LOVE YOU TOO, SIR!" I shouted back… Ah, I love critics.

Then, I simply flew higher towards the sky so that I wouldn't disturb the city sleep… towards the cloud… and start humming Aladdin's song "a Whole New World."

Mom always urged me to go auditioning for Ba Sing Se Idol every year a new season starting… however I refused every time… why? Because I knew that my vocal singing was so-so… and that dude***** would say, "Karaoke and indulgent rubbish." And that was just the mildest critic. ***Author's note: can anyone suggest how to make Simon Cowell name Chinese?**

Anyhoo, while I flew silently after finishing my last song, I was 'taking a walk down a memory lane'

Pondering about my origin… and Dad's.

**Long Ago.**

"Okay, Zuko. You may have noticed by now that I'm not like normal dads. I have… avoided the subject for years… as your mother and I have decided that it's time you knew the truth." Dad was supposed to tell me a bed-time story that night… I was how many years old that night… Ah, I forgot. But instead, he told me the greatest bed-time story ever: HIS HISTORY.  
"We think you're old enough for me to tell you where I really come from."

"Billions of miles from here is Planet Viltrum (another planet, son.), a cool blue oasis alone in a solar system much like our own. I was born on this planet. Its inhabitants are not completely unlike humans, although they, including me, have abilities in addition to what humans have. We can fly, move at super-speed, and possess colossal strength (super-power, son, super-power.) With no conflict and no disease at hand, our high council, lead by **Ozai the Conquest**, **greatest of the Viltrumites**, decided that other sentient beings should be allowed to develop to our level of advancement. It was agreed upon unanimously. Afterwards, The World Betterment Committee was formed. When I came of age, I eagerly signed up for the committee; I was posted on the search committee; my task was to locate and suggest planets that might be eligible for our help in assistance in betterment. After the expansion of the operation, I was stationed on a mobile base that traveled from planet to planet as we discovered them, much like Star Trek. After my third year of service, I discovered our home planet: Earth. I had grown fond of the planet and the people on it after the long inspection. I was fascinated by the achievement they had achieved in such a short time. I asked for authorization to add Earth to our betterment schedule, but it was deemed and not developed enough for our assistance. However, I refused to give up, and offered an alternative solution: I volunteered to relocate the Earth and be its sole protector, dedicated to the survival of its civilization. Due to Earth's location in such a remote location area of the universe, I was warned that there might not be any chance of returning. I went anyway. It was there, among the people, that I instantly knew I had made the right choice… I might have even forgotten what my mission on Earth was… after marvelling at the vibrant nest of individuality, their creativity and imagination in arts and cultures, something that Viltrumites lacked. (Our clothes are only white and grey in colour and our building are few in design…) …Had I not been so abruptly reminded by another difference between Earth and Viltrum. Dangers are lurking everywhere, in any kind of form… accidents, global disasters, mythical creatures wreaking havoc, crime and murder.… With my mission clearly at hand, I went to work. The people on Earth needed someone to keep them safe… and I was here to protect them. It was less than a year before I met your mother… but that's a story for another time…"

"…"

Dad took a deep breath; I just stared at him, awed.  
"I know this is a lot to digest, but I know you can handle it. Unfortunately…" he sighed… but then he smiled. "I'm not done yet, though good news is coming… You see, as you're getting older, Zuko, things are going to change as you hit… uh, puberty. You're going to start to get acne. (hopefully, you won't) Your voice will start to crack and eventually change. You'll grow hair in strange and new places. You'll begin to look at girls in a new light… but the best one: you might develop super powers."

I still said nothing.  
"Super-strength, super speed, flight… the whole bit… all the powers I have." Dad continued.  
"Zuko, do you understand?"

After a long, awkward silence, I sported a broad smile, "WOW! I'm going to able to fly?!"

**Now.**

"Oh, yeah…" I answered my long unanswered question. "I can fly!"  
After an hour or so, I flew lower and planned to go back home, finally feeling a fatigue wearing me down. "'Bout bloody time…" But…

"Hey… what the…?" I saw a bald, large, muscular man (a Body-builder, maybe?) breaking a Toy 'R' Us shop, dragging away a huge box. What actually piqued my curiosity was that he was blue-skinned and that he was stealing something from children shop?!

"Yo, Are you stealing… Barbies?"

I dove straight at him, my right knuckle pointing at his face… but he was ready; he grabbed my right hand (Man! His arm is HUGE!) and then just threw me away. "Back off."

I was flying towards nearest wall and it was cracked after a loud 'CRASH!'… I barely felt the pain.  
"Aren't you out a little past your bedtime, young man?" he asked, clearly mocking me.  
"Aren't you?" I dashed again, this time faster… but before we were engaged…  
'BOOM!'

A fiery explosion between us stopped us fighting. "That was just a size of a marble; you don't want to see what the bang of my shtick with a size of a golf-ball."  
We both looked up; 4 teenage super-heroes were flying towards us. 3 of them were riding some sort of a hover-bike, and one long-haired, beautiful girl dressed all in pink was flying just like me.  
The one who set up the explosion was apparently the jock dressed in orange & yellow suit with helmet and goggle… his left hand was clenching a fist and a fire could be seen. The other was an Asian lady, dressed in violet and black, a number 1 insignia at the middle of her chest; and finally a…well, a robot. He (Or she? Or an it?) was the coolest. His appearance was… well, loosely resembled that Evangelion no. 1 and also a Gundam. He had a helmet with glowing emerald eyes, which had a prominent horn and "frill," is vaguely evocative of a ceratopsid dinosaur. His body resembled a Gundam. However, his colours were red, yellow and grey, just like Ultimate Iron Man. He was a bit rusty, though.

"So, who started this?" The exploding man asked.

"I'll give you one guess," the bald, blue man sneered. He grabbed the hover-bike and, much in a similar manner before, threw it towards the wall. Then, the bike exploded, although the three passengers had safely jumped away. "That costs us half a million!" the Asian girl groaned.  
"Way to go, Rex. We had the element of surprise and you blew it… literally." The robot said; he had a voice of Keanu Reeves.  
"Sorry, 'Bot. It seemed like a good idea at that time." The orange-suit guy said apologetically.

"Well, we'll need to get a REAL good one soon," he said, as he saw the blue man approached them, eyes glared and his gigantic fist threw at the robot. 'WHACK!' It was a dirty punch as the opponent was hitting from behind, by who I meant was me… I hit the blue man first before he hit the cool robot.  
I thought the blue man would turn and angrily retaliated, but unexpectedly he was already unconscious. It might just me whose super-strength was, well, too SUPER or he was too wimpy.  
"Thank you, stranger." The robot thanked me.  
"No sweat,"  
"I'll have another vehicle sent to us by remote, meanwhile… Kate, pull our friend, Mauler out of the way so we won't attract too much attention… let the police arrest him." The robot said while I could see his fore-arm had some sort of a gadget and he was clicking its buttons. I could notice that he was the leader of this team.

The pink lady approached me… she was having a difficulty holding her giggle, "Nice costume."

Suddenly, I realised that I only wore my pajamas instead of my Invincible costume. Groaning loudly, I replied, "Oh… this, yeah… I was just from my home… when I saw this guy, I just quickly go to stop him without changing."

"I see."  
"Waitaminnit, do I know you? You look… familiar." Then, she was raising her eyebrows too. "You DO look familiar…"

But before we could continue our conversation, "Well, our ride's here. But I can see that an introduction is needed before we depart, albeit brief. We're the Teen Team. I'm Robot (I know, it sounds lazy. I'm a robot and my name is robot… but nobody actually really cares) You've just talked to Atom Eve. That guy who could emit fire and make things explode called Rex Splode, rhymed with Explode. And that nice lady is Dupli-Kate, with 'K'. And you are, gentleman?"

"Oh, my name is Zu…" Then, he remembered about secret identity and all, so…  
"My name is Invincible."  
"Hullo. Until we meet again, Invincible."

"Likewise."

Then, they departed… when Atom Eve turned her head to look at me one last time, she smiled and shouted, "See you next week, Zuko!"

My heart leapt, "How does she know me?"

…

"Oh! Okay, No wonder you looked familiar!" I clapped my hand, realising how forgetful I could be. The red-haired girl who sat behind me in the Physics class was Atom Eve. What was her real name again?  
"Hey! Zuko Grayson, right? My name is Samantha Yue Wilkins, in case you're wondering. Just call me Yue."  
"Okay then, Yue. Is there any way you can keep my identity secret? You never know when one of your friends went gaga and next they went Doctor Doom on you…"  
"Haha! Relax, Zuko… that only happens in comic books."

"Well, still it's better to keep it safe… 'YAWN!' Sorry, I'm not used to fighting crimes in late nights… I'm still new to this. In fact, I just started in a week!"  
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Teen superheroes start drinking coffee at an early age… actually, it's recommended… although you know, it is actually so not…" Yue laughed.

After the school was over, Yue was asking me to join the Teen Team, saying that they needed a super-hero who had super-strength (besides Robot). "Well, I'll consider it; as long as my school grade won't get affected."

"We're following up on the last week incident. If you like, you're welcome to tag along." Yue continued.  
"I would love to! But where are we going to change to our costumes?"

"Follow me."

Then, we went to a huge cafeteria garbage box which height was twice the height of normal person. "Normally during this hour, there shouldn't be any waste… see?" We went to open the box, and right she was, it was empty… we entered and closed it, and BOY! IT SMELLED TO A HIGH HEAVEN!

"Good God! Don't you have any other place?"

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it, besides… you have to be prepared if your mission might be going to sewer or something…" Yue was not changing… instead, she was transforming. She emitted a pinkish light and then she was already in her costume… and her hair and eye colour was purplish-pink. While I took a longer time cos I needed to take off my school attire (my costume was already wore inside.) "Wow, nice suit!" Yue commented. "Thanks! Yours too."

Then, we both flew to the sky. "How do we get out of here without being spotted?"  
"You'll be surprised how rarely people ever look up at the sky." Yue said.  
Then, after 5 minutes or so, we arrived at Teen Team's Headquarters… it was located underground… of Mall.

"Whoa." I whoa. The HQ was… I dunno… exactly what I was expecting. It was stereotypical superhero HQ that I would see in movies. Nice and shibby!

"Eve, you're early. And I'll assume the guy in red-and-blue attire is our friend Invincible from last night…" It was Robot… his costume… I mean armour… was different… although the colour red, yellow and grey were still the same, he was now looking more like Bumblebee (in Transformers movie).

"Looking sharp." "Thanks!"  
"Katie and Rex are on another mission. So, we need your assistance." "No problem."  
Robot stood up from his cubicle (he was staring at a huge screen… Mauler was shown) and walked towards several of transports at the garage.  
"After the police apprehended Mauler last week, I went to erase his memories regarding the incident of last week. (He could do that?) However, when I visited the children shop he robbed (which turned out to be pirated game shop, but that would be a story for another time*) **(*Which means it won't be necessarily told)** He immediately and inconspicuously broke free; thank goodness nobody was harmed. Now, he should be shaken and will seek out familiar ground, if my guess is right. Of course, he will lead us to his base and we'll be able to figure out what his plans for the video game systems were."

"So, what now?" I asked.  
"I've been tracking him from here, but we need to be on site when he arrives."

So, the three of us were flying to hunt for Mauler (Robot was riding a new Hover-Bike).

We arrived at the normal-looking factory; so, we knocked the door as Robot's signal indicated that Mauler was inside.  
When nobody answered, I just smashed the door opened. "I knocked, but nobody answered, so pardon my manners…"

Who's inside are more than one… as Mauler was accompanied are accompanied by another blue-skinned guy… and behind them were army of robots! It seemed that they were about to activate it…

"Don't let him activate the automatons, I'll deal with this one." Robot said, pointing at Mauler who was holding a remote control.

Then, the fighting ensued. Yue and I was facing Mauler; she was shooting a violent, violet bolt at him to no avail… when Mauler was trying to hit her, Yue reflexively created a pink barrier… but apparently it wouldn't last long as it was cracking. So, I came in by give him a good, old left hook. Meanwhile, Robot was dodging the other blue guy's continuous punching and kicking… he was quite agile for someone whose armour is quite bulky and cumbersome. But, he couldn't evade it forever as he was kicked at the top chest, sending him to one of the table. "You're in over your head…" Robot said.  
"Look who's talking, tin-man!"  
He punched at Robot's face, but Robot grabbed it; his palm emitted a huge shockwave, knocking the blue man unconscious.

After I gave Mauler a few more punches, he finally knocked out cold (I was holding back as Dad had warned me that my super-strength could be deadly.)

"Thank for the help, Invincible… Think you might be interested in joining the Teen Team?" Robot asked the question Yue just asked me before.

"Well, yeah! As long as it's not gonna always be this easy," I sneered.  
"Be careful what you wish for, Zu… I mean Invincible." Yue said sternly.

To Be Continued.


	3. Chapter 3: TeamUp

_**Author's Note:**__ 90% of the dialogues of the previous 2 chapters are the same as the comic book's… so, there, I say it. In case somebody reported possible abuse or plagiarism or stuffs…_

**Guardians of the Globe Characters:**

**15) (Young) Firelord Sozin: The Immortal.  
16) Avatar Kyoshi: War Woman.  
17) La, the Ocean Spirit: Aquarius.  
18) Dock/Xu/Bushi: Martian Man.  
19) Unnamed Fire Avatar: The Red Rush.  
20) The Gecko: The Green Ghost.  
21) Bato: Dark-Wing. **(Because Bato's name is like a Japanese for bat... and that Dark-Wing is clearly a parody of Batman...

**More will be introduced later... **

**Author's POV (& brief interruptions from the author/me):  
**

The Reginald Vel Johnson High School students were assembled in the hall abruptly after the police department requested the superintendent of the school to do so. Since it was so sudden and outside the regular periods, students would do… (I dunno the words.) (How about I put it like this ) All were politely asked… meaning ordered like slaves… by whoever-in-charges to behave themselves, get in lines, keep the noise level down, etcetera. But of course, teenagers will be children… no, scratch that, teenagers will be infants; most of them would do the EXACT opposite of the authorities. Buzzing with chit-chats, thus all hundreds of casual, indulgent everyday conversations added into nightmarish noise pollutions. Communing amongst each other meant ignoring what the teachers said… including the orders of getting in lines and/or orderly taking seats quietly. It was a complete chaos… and yet it was the order of **Zuko Grayson's** high school. Chaos and order literally together in harmony; if such a thing was possible.

(Not that this inanity mattered in the plot of the story… in fact, now that I think about it… the previous paragraph was a total failure for an introduction of a chapter… Sigh… I am such a loser)

After several barks from the teachers to calm down the storm of the chatters, the students finally cooled down & listened half-heartedly to Principal Winslow's yawn-inducing speech. "Now, please be seated (… you bickering, blabbering bands of baboons…!) I don't need to mention about recent unfortunate cases to assure you that we, alongside the sheriffs, had quadrupled our efforts to… ('BORING!' one of the jokers bellowed from the crowds, much to the audience's pleasure and teachers' dismay) "…A-HEM! As I was saying, the fourteen missing students…" _Then, the whole auditorium made a stifled gasp, followed by an eerie, dead silence… apparently the Principal had uttered the magic words. Now, every single person gave his or her undivided attention. _"… They are still nowhere to be found; but that doesn't mean that they were dead or hurt… let's hope that they can be found as soon as possible or maybe they'd just pop out tomorrow as if nothing happened."

"If any of you have questions, I'll be in my office… you may all go back to your classes now… please be where you're supposed to be."

After the students were dismissed, Zuko was trying to find Yue amidst the crowds of the students (apparently, after the speech fell on deaf ears as now they went back to their usual loud, cheerful chatters) eventually, he found her…

**Zuko's POV:**

"Yue…"

"Oh, Zuko… how you doing?"

"Still surviving; you?" "Fine."

I didn't realise at that moment that everybody behind my back gossiped that me and Yue had started dating because we seemed to hang out so often and together… but I knew this ain't the case as Yue already had a boyfriend: Rex-Splode. Because he wasn't the student of my school, the jerks just thought otherwise.

The sole reason I hanged out with Yue was because we both were superheroes; I could share some things with her… some conversations that I could make with her that I couldn't with others… even with Shoji… my 'best' friend…

"Well, I know this will sound bad… but I'll say it Anyhoo: Whatever happened, it can't have happened to a NICER bunch of S-O-Bs" I smirked.  
"Geez, Grayson!" Yue stared at me, affronted and shook her head. "That doesn't just sound bad… that's just plain evil! I talked to Hide and Hahn a few times… I mean, I dunno about the others, Hide seemed okay and Hahn is a nice guy."

"Yue, you don't know them. Why do you think Hahn the sonofagun being so nice to you? I think it may have something to do with you being… well, pretty… and Hide? He's a bully and a jerk! He tried to do me wedgies! I almost literally ripped him apart!"

Yue seemed to want to retort, but then frowned at me and raised her eyebrow, "Gray… Zuko, are you flirting with me?"

"Whaat?!" my eyes were wide open like anime character's.  
"You talked about yourself being bullied… outing people being jerks and all… trying to make me pity you…; you know I'm dating Rex, right?"

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA!" I scratched my head and waved my hands strangely, a sign that I was embarassed. "This is not where I am heading my talk at all…"  
"Uh-huh…" Yue rolled her eyes in disbelief. After a moment of an uncomfortable silent, I was glad that it was Yue who started the conversation. "So, are you on your way to the cafeteria? Or are you just trying to flirt with me so that's why you're walking with me?"  
I didn't realise until that time that Yue and I were having same schedules… man, I AM dumb! "Uh, yeah… I'm heading to the canteen too…"

"Riight…" Yue said sceptically.

"Look, can we talk about something else… besides… I already have a crush." I blurted that out loud, suddenly wished I didn't say that.  
"Really?" Yue now was interested. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"Um, well, the feeling's not reciprocated… yet." I lamented, thinking about Jin (金) Justine… her blonde, golden girl… her smile… her (censored)…  
"Zuko? Zuko… why are you just standing there…?"  
"Oh… uh, sorry… I was… preoccupied…" I said, blushed.

So, after we arrived at the cafeteria… we greeted farewell and took different seats as she sit with her usual classmates and I sit with nerdy Shoji. "So, the rumors are true. You guys are going out!" He sneered. "Sho…" I started.

"C'mon, man! You should have told me… I thought we are partners!"  
"A-HEM!" I glared at him menacingly, that last sentence really made me questions his… well, you know…

"Sorry, sorry… personal space… got it."  
"No… it's not that. We are NOT an item, Shoji… she has a boyfriend… he's from another school… 'Sides," I grinned. "Why should I tell you who is my girlfriend?"

**_…_**

"Grayson! The fries! The customers have started complaining!" Dan, my boss, the complainer, started complaining. I was at the Burger Mart working after school… earning money… Mum said it will make me grow up… Dad said, well, what Dad said. I said… they could go f*** with each other as sooner or later I would destroy this place!

"Yes, sir…" I didn't even bother to listen to his complain and shouting so I just replied with my usual dumb replies. And that was a bad move… Because it made him complaining and ranting even more…

"Do you know irresponsible you are…" as the scolding went on, my ADHD kicked in… his volume of roar decreased, though in actuality it was supposed to get louder. My mind went somewhere else… thinking about Jin… about Dad's bedtime story… about my life… about great power, comes great responsibility…

This? You called this responsibility?! After he finished ranting and said, "… Now finish the fries!"

Then, faster than normal eyes could see, I stood right at my boss's sorry face, and whispered in my most menacing tone made yet, "FYI, I quit." Then, I turned my back, threw away the ridiculous apron I was wearing and went out of the kitchen. I felt free, victorious… at the top of the world… as I stepped out. But when I caught a glimpse of Dad's flying home, I went back to Earth… a dreadful thought occurred… then groaned loudly.

"Iroh's gonna kill me for this."

**_…_**

"Man, that sirloin steak was deLIcious, Mum!"  
"Yes, hon'. You've outdone yourself tonight."  
"Thanks, boys... but you're both still going to have to do the dishes." Mum grinned.  
"Curses!" Both of us made annoyed grunts. "Foiled again..."  
"So, Zuko, how's your school?" Dad asked. "It's dreadful, Iroh." I said morosely... but in actuality, I enjoyed the anarchy.. sure, it's horrible to have your colleagues, no matter how jackass they are, missing without any traces... but because it eased everyday's boredom... it pleased me... I savoured the atrocities... **(Author's note: This trait is due to Zuko being a Viltrumite... we'll discuss more about that in the upcoming chapters.)**"... My 'friends' are missing, everybody else are driven crazy, what else could possibly go wrong?"I tried very, VERY hard to hide my cruel grin.  
"Yes, that's very sad... but don't worry... I'm sure the Guardians of the Globe won't just sit on their laurels and do nothing about it,"

AH! But of course! I'd forgotten all about the Guardians of the Globe! They are like the real world of DC's Justice League of America or Marvel's Avengers; without them, the world would still be under fear of terrorism of Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden and George W. Bush... (I won't scratch that last part!)  
"And how about your work at the Burger Mart?" "GOOD!... good..." I said quickly.  
"Uh-huh," Dad said, his face unfathomable while we continued washing the plates and other cutleries.  
"Zuko, I am thinking..." (I am toast!) "... that since you're a fully-fledged super-vigilante now and that you still need to focus on your school to get to a good college... why don't you quit your job? You clearly have more important things to do than flip burgers or stuffs that they do in Burger Marts... besides, it's not like you ever really _needed_ the money." He smiled and winked at me.

"Done and _done_!" I meant that literally (I winked back, could hardly contain my euphoria.)

_**...**_

Afterwards, I wore my Invincible suit; I was readying myself for another superheroing... by which I meant boring noon patrol... but then I realised it was about to get really interesting...  
"Hey, son... whatcha doing? Hey, looking sharp! You new uniform suits you well," Dad was behind me all of a sudden I didn't even realise it... the old man was not only fast... he could also move quickly and silently... while I still moved with a noise of a flash bang...  
"Hey, Iroh! Thanks... your costume is tight too... ZI'm just getting ready to go out patrol for afternoon patrol... y'know, catching some fresh air while, God may bless me, fighting some bad guys and save the day."  
"You mind if I tag along?" His bushy beard was now curved... "I think we're about due for a team-up..."  
"BOY! I'd love to!" Then, faster than normal eyes (even my super eyes) could see, he had changed into his super-suit; it was as if he was 'energised' like in the Star Trek and suddenly his attires changed. Then, we flew out of my window... and then I just giggled, "Heh-heh-heh! You just said 'team-up'. This may not be as boring as I thought it will be..."

"You know, Zuko, you're doing astonishingly fine for a rookie; you have not made any grave mistake like accidentally injuring innocents or stuff like that... not bad at all," Dad complimented me as we flew at the cloudy sky... "Thanks, Iroh... I... huh?" When I turned my head to see him, he had already vanished; I realised he had gone down to save a lady from a burglar. MAN! What a show-off! He had returned as fast as he had vanished. "Sorry to just go like that... there was a..." "Yeah, 'Roh... I could see you just flirt with another woman!" "Son...!" "Hey, hey! I didn't say you couldn't... I just want to tell that next time don't just go save the day by yourself! We're in this toge..." Too late, he had vanished again... he was grabbing a toddler out of a heavy traffic who was about to get crashed by a large truck. "I wonder why I'm not as arrogant as you," I scoffed at Dad who was grinning by himself.

"You want to grab a corn dog? We haven't had one of those for ages...."  
"Okay,"

When we had ordered our corn dogs and bit one or two, I wanted to ask Dad more about my latent, inherent power... "So, Iroh, you can move as fast as lightning; AND you do it without breaking a sweat or panting and all... Is that going to come naturally or am I going to have to practice? Sorry to say a cliché... like an anime cartoon (about the practising part)... but do I have to? Because, MAN! Would that be dumb?"  
"You WILL get faster as you get older... so does your level of your super-strength... I assure you that; but to be honest, son, I cannot for sure tell more about your superpower's development,"  
"What? Why?"  
"Because you are the FIRST Viltrumite-Earthling hybrid... I do not know for sure whether you'll ever be as strong as me or any standard Viltrumites... heck! You might even surpassed me one day; anything could happen, but until then..." Dad shrugged, "You have to practice... by which I mean develop your muscles and doing aerobics and gaining more staminas..."  
"Okay, then..." I nodded uncertainly... still unsure whether Dad really had answered my answer or not... when I was about to ask Dad more about Viltrum's origins, his beeper beeped...  
"Um, son, I'll be back in a minute." Then, he whoosed off.

I munched off my corn dog... wondering whether I should eat Dad's when I had finished mine... but Dad had came back... only... "I'm going to need your help on this one, Zuko..."

**_..._**

"WHOA!" Whoa was right on a spot; huge American Air Force attacking God-Knows-What! "What are those on the ground? What are they attacking??"

"The Greys, I presume..." Dad said... "What?" "Layman term for aliens, son." "Oh!"

Then, you know, we helped the government fought the ugly aliens (or just some sort of government's experiments-gone-horribly-wrong or demons-from-Hades or humanoids-from-the-fifth-dimensions... how come I knew all these crazy things when I didn't even know the simplest layman term for an alien?! Man, I gotta stop watching TVs and reduced my computer times!

Then, we fought... it was one-sided, really...; the aliens, or whatever (They had antennas, tiny black eyes, 4 huge hands, basically 75% human but green-skinned) were thousands in numbers, but the two of us had the strength of millions... Thank God these Greys (I dunno they're called the Greys, I mean, their skin are greens...) had the same strength of normal humans... Our single hook could swipe off dozens of them... while their death rays did nothing but tickled us... (at least tickle me; I think Dad didn't even feel a thing).

"Sure a lot of these guys," I muttered. I kicked one of their otherworldly tanks... it exploded into million pieces. "No kidding, son. If my theory is right..." Omni-Man AKA Dad propelled himself like a rocket and shoot himself towards the HUGE alien spaceship; BOOM! it exploded... man, did I enjoy this afternoon!

When we were seemed to be on the upper hand... an ENORMOUS pinkish portal opened out of nowhere at the sky; more aliens showed up and more spaceships (LARGER too) showed up... Should I enjoy this or should I start getting scared now? "Um, Iroh...?"

The battalions of aliens seemed to be in millions now, so hypothetically... we're evenly matched. Now, no more holding back, I guess.

I moved as fast... tried to be as fast as Dad... and I made sucker-punches to all the unprepared aliens... WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! "Zuko, look at these aliens! They're aging!" Dad yelled from far away.

"They're WHAT?!" I asked... but then I knew what he was trying to say, the alien I was choking was shrivelling, thinning, wrinkling and needing a serious botox! "What's wrong with them?!"  
"As I was saying, if my theory is right, we're dealing with some sort of other-dimensional army here. Time must work differently in their dimension; they definitely did not expect this..." Dad had floated besides me. "C'mon, son. We're winning here, presumably 5 more minutes and these aliens're all going down." Dad was wrong; it took more than 5 minutes but a full hour for them aliens to get off our planet... we needed to 'throw' their spaceships and their asses to the pink portal... Easy piecey... but not a quick process...

Meanwhile, I found something even more disturbing than my first participation's war: Dad. He was different when he was fighting; not smiling warmly, not 'father'ly (If such a word n battle exist), not pacifist or gentle like usual... he was... bloodthirsty... and... almost sadistic... He enjoyed killing the aliens; not instantly kill them, but slowly... and painfully and methodically... he was enjoying it! The way he tore up their limbs, gouging out their eyes... breaking their necks and crushing their heads like crushing apples... he was... inhumane! Was that how real Viltrumites fight?! Then, when it's all over, he was back to his usual self... but then I was unsure... whether this 'usual' self was his true colour...

"Iroh... Dad... I..." I began... but did not how to begin... in fact, I was afraid he was going to do exactly what he was doing to the aliens!

"What is it, son...?" But, suddenly, a pinkish portal appeared behind Dad... an alien appeared through it and Dad was dragged through the portal.

"IROH!!!"

Too late, both of them were gone.

_**...**_

"I guess I can look forward to you both being late from now on for dinner... huh?" Mum was sitting in the dining room, the dinner was prepared when I came back.  
"Where's your father?"  
"Iroh..." I shook my head, cleared my throat and began, "Dad was sucked into a portal when some-sort-of-aliens-from-another-dimension tried to invade us; I don't think he'll be home tonight... but I'm TOTALLY SURE he's perfectly fine..." I quickly added.

A silent... and then Mum shrugged, "Well, that's more meatball marinara for us."

**_To Be Continued._**


End file.
